Destinies Entwined
by lyingtonguesareclumsy
Summary: "Our destinies have been entwined, Ichigo, but never joined."


"Our destinies have been entwined, Elizabeth, but never joined." – Admiral Norrington, Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End

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A/N: Courtesy Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End and one Mr. James Norrington and Elizabeth Swann for the dialogue and inspiration.

I toyed with Ichigo taking Norrington's part, but Rukia was always the stronger one, she'd be the one to put an end to it all- to take the step back and put everything back in it's place.

Labeled this as a fix-it fic, though I know to many it will not be, because to me fixing "it" was never about changing canon, but about explaining how it could have happened and making sense of it all so that there's some closure.

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They were stood at that same spot. That same, cursed, blessed spot. On the pavement, on the drive outside his house. Where once he'd held her sword in his hands, and she'd shoved it through his chest. Where once she'd disappeared from his view, for what he'd thought would be forever, and she'd seen his gaze falter, and felt her heart crack, until he'd looked up at the sky instead.

Where now they stood there once more, with the senkaimon gates they'd just stepped through still open next to them. As if they were still waiting. He wanted to pretend he didn't know what that meant, but he did.

Even so…

He turned and walked towards the house. Started walking back towards what he supposed was his real life. Hoped she'd follow. Knew she wouldn't.

Her voice stopped him. He'd barely taken three steps. She said his name. He turned back. Looked at her.

She still was in the same torn shihakushō from the battle, tattered and in pieces. Dried blood still covered her wounds, though the most serious of them had been patched up with kido. He thought he'd never seen her look so beautiful.

He was in a similar state. Though his shoulders still felt heavy, did not feel relieved of the burden of battle. He did not feel that lightness as he had after Aizen. He did not feel as though he'd won.

Her eyes, also, did not reflect that same lightness of victory, that relief of making it through, against all odds. Her eyes… they were bittersweet.

He heaved a sigh. He had known better. But refusing to hope was futile. It tasted too much like giving up.

He looked at those eyes, those fierce, violet eyes. He'd never tire of them. Would never forget their shape or their color. Would never forget a single emotion they managed to express as they looked at him now.

He'd thought they would have had more time. He knew history never repeated itself in quite the same way, knew he wasn't his dad, but he'd thought… He'd thought…

It felt like he'd just got her back. It felt like it'd only been yesterday when he'd had a new sword pierced him through once more and he'd turn to see her there again, finally. Hell, it practically was yesterday. This whole bloody war had barely taken a whole week in real time. And before that, well, she'd stayed back in Soul Society again, after he'd gone to take Ginjō back to the World of the Living…

But there had been that knowledge that he could see her again and she could come see him. And he'd forgotten the rules, forgotten their places. None of it had seemed to matter at all. The world had seemed bright once more. Yet, time had started to spin at its normal speed again and before he had even realized, it had gotten too fast.

"Stay with us," he said. It was desperate and he knew it. But he needed to say it, needed to ask her. "Rukia, stay with me."

A siren blared through the neighborhood and he startled. Spun around and in front of her, as if anything on this mortal plane could harm her. He was high-strung, it was pure instinct.

Then, he heard a holler from inside the house- Yuzu calling for him, maybe Karin had spotted his return.

"Go, I will follow," she said from behind him. He hesitated, turned to face her. To accuse her.

"You're lying." It was bald-faced. This was the stark truth, it hovered between them. They both knew she would not follow, not this time, not any longer.

She searched his face, committed it to memory. She knew he could shoulder this burden, this fate. Though she did not think it fair or just. "Our destinies have been entwined, Ichigo, but never joined."

She reached up on her toes, cupped his cheek with her hand and brought it down to her level. She kissed him then. She put in just enough of her heart so that she could let him go. So that, she hoped, he could let her go.

She stepped back, broke the embrace. He swayed a little towards her.

His eyes opened, he hadn't realized they'd been closed. Swore he'd never close them again, as long as she was in his sights.

But then the gates of the senkaimon opened behind her and she stepped backwards through them, into the blinding white light, and she looked at him one final time. Their gazes were connected until the doors closed off, with a sound so final, and shut out any glimpse of her. And he kept gazing until the doors, too, disappeared.

Like the time before, he was just staring into that distance again. Standing in that same spot, that same damned spot on the pavement on the drive outside his house.

And that thing called life was still calling to him from inside the house. And she was no longer beside him and would not be anymore.

To this day he doesn't know how long he stood there, silently, still as a statue, staring at the pavement. At nothing.

But he remembers eventually he closed his eyes, turned away, and walked inside.


End file.
